Welcome to week three of our summer series, meditating on Hebrews 12:28-29:
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.
What is reverence?
This is not a question you can answer while looking inward; you cannot define for yourself what it is to revere. There are several cautionary tales in the Old Testament reminding us to revere God as He has called us to; our worship is not according to flesh but Spirit; so our reverence is Spirit-led, Spiritual. We cannot reach out and touch the Mountain that quakes, nor climb that Mountain unless summoned; we cannot catch the falling Ark unless it is our place to do so; we cannot fill our censors and offer incense unless invited to. How then can we approach God, let alone revere Him?
Consider with me how our knowledge of God directs our reverence. As Calvin taught, there is no true knowledge of God apart from piety–in which reverence and love for God are joined inseparably.
“What is God? Men who pose this question are merely toying with idle speculations. It is more important for us to know of what sort He is and what is consistent with His nature….Rather, our knowledge should serve first to teach us fear and reverence; secondly, with it as our guide and teacher, we should learn to seek every good from Him…”
“…the pious mind does not dream up for itself any god it pleases, but contemplates the One and Only True God. And it does not attach to Him whatever it pleases, but is content to hold Him to be as He manifests Himself; furthermore, the mind always exercises the utmost diligence and care not to wander astray, or rashly and boldly to go beyond His will.”
Calvin’s Institutes I. 2. 1 and I. 2. 2.
As our knowledge of God grows (2 Peter 2:18), our reverence for God will deepen; and revering Him from that depth will bring more satisfaction and contentment to our weary souls, as we await our homecoming. “He must increase, I must decrease.” Can you recall how Lucy first saw Aslan, in the Narnia series? And how she saw him the next few times? Seeming larger? So it is, as we know the LORD, as we know Him more, we see Him as more glorious, and we will revere Him with more joy.
My soul will make its boast in the Lord;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
O magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together. Psalm 34:2-3
Reverence is Not…
“…because [the pious mind] loves and reveres God as Father, it worships and adores Him as Lord…wherever there is great ostentation in ceremonies, sincerity of heart is rare indeed.” Calvin, Institutes, I. 2. 2.
To revere can be done by the humblest, the poorest, the smallest. It does not require a cathedral, though a cathedral is not necessarily the enemy of true reverence. Reverence does not require stained glass windows, though beauty can aid our reverence.
Reverence is not a show, not a production, not for an audience, not merely outward. If it is not from your inner being, it is not reverence.
We exult Him as we know Him, we know Him as He has revealed Himself in His Word. Reverence can bow down in prayer, but can also lift up its eyes and hands in prayer; it is a matter of the heart, of the ‘inner man’. The Son of God came down, and lived among us, and as the True Adam displays perfect reverence. He enjoyed glorifying the Father, rather than seeking glory. Likewise, Jesus asked His disciples to consider where their true glory would come from–to consider this yourself, read Ephesians 1, Colossians 1, John 5, John 7:18 & 8:50; 1 Thessalonians 2:12.
Our reverence is not real if it includes a fleshly desire for others to see and applaud our efforts. Yet, when we truly revere God, His body will delight to join in! It is a delight to our souls, and a delight that will be shared among His people.
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1
O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation…Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Psalm 95:1, 6
O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name… Neh. 1:11
Recognition
Let us now muse on a few moments in history when God revealed His glory, beyond what we perceive in the everyday view of His creation and providential care.
What happened to Peter, James, and John as they saw the glory of the Son of God on Mount of Transfiguration? (Pause, re-read those chapters in the Gospels)
We revere not according to our imaginary view of God, but by seeing and recognizing His revealed character, His revealed attributes, His revealed works, etc. In our current time and space constraints, still in these not-yet-glorified conditions, we cannot yet see Him as He truly is. But that “time” will come!
“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3
One day, we will be with Him, where He is, behind the veil, in the place He has gone to prepare for us, when this temporal world will no longer hold us. In our glorified state we will behold His glory–the glory He temporarily revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration–and we will be able to enjoy communion with our God as never before!
Yet we are here, with a partial knowledge, a foretaste. It is sufficient now to fill us with all joy and peace in believing; it is sufficient to transform us more and more into His likeness, into who He created us to be–our truest self.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” 2 Cor. 3:18
As we behold, we are transformed; as we behold and abide in Him, He makes us reverent in our inner and outer man–words, deeds, thoughts, attitudes, desires, pursuits. We behold Him, as He has revealed Himself, and will be reverent–treating Him as holy; see these posts for more:
photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash